{"id":25363,"date":"2023-07-08T03:55:51","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T03:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/08\/pokemon-go-creator-niantic-accused-of-systemic-sexual-bias-in-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2023-07-08T03:55:51","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T03:55:51","slug":"pokemon-go-creator-niantic-accused-of-systemic-sexual-bias-in-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/08\/pokemon-go-creator-niantic-accused-of-systemic-sexual-bias-in-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon Go creator Niantic accused of \u2018systemic sexual bias\u2019 in lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">A former Niantic employee filed a lawsuit against the AR gaming company on Friday, alleging that it devalued the work of female employees and women of color, denied equal pay to women employees and women of color. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, accuses Niantic of creating a \u201cboys club.\u201d The employee was laid off as part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/6\/29\/23778592\/niantic-layoffs-shuts-down-games-la-studio-pokemon-go\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">last week\u2019s job cuts<\/a> at the company, which affected about 230 staffers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">The employee, who is an anonymous Jane Doe but is described in the complaint as an Asian female, started work at Niantic in February 2020 with a salary of $70,000, the complaint says. Later that year, she was promoted and received a raise to about $84,000, but in \u201capproximately\u201d 2021, she learned that Niantic was paying a male colleague more money even though she had a higher job title and more responsibilities than he did.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">In 2022, he was allegedly paid $127,000 per year, but she was paid $105,000 per year despite being one job level higher. In or around spring 2023, she received a raise to $115,000 per year, still below her male colleague.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component clear-both block md:float-left md:mr-30 md:w-[320px] lg:-ml-100\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-pullquote mb-20\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup relative bg-repeating-lines-dark bg-[length:1px_1.2em] pb-8 font-polysans text-28 font-medium leading-120 tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20  dark:bg-repeating-lines-light dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple\">She learned she was being paid more than $10,000 under her job\u2019s pay range<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">Around that same time, the employee also saw that Niantic posted the pay range for her job title and level \u2014 as of 2023, California employers with more than 15 staffers <a href=\"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/economy\/2022\/12\/california-pay-transparency-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">have to share<\/a> pay ranges in job listings because of a pay transparency law \u2014 and saw that she was being paid more than $10,000 less than the bottom end of that range.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">The employee discussed her concerns with other female staffers, and sexism and equal pay were brought up in the company\u2019s employee resources group for women, Wolfpack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">But when the employee brought her concerns to Niantic\u2019s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Director and Principal People Partner, they \u201cmade clear\u201d that \u201cthey and male upper management at Niantic were hostile to her complaints or voiced concerns about sexism or sexual bias in the workplace,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">The executives in the meeting also allegedly said her job evaluations were affected by her discussing workplace issues with her colleagues and said that she was paid below the range <em>because<\/em> she had raised concerns with her colleagues. According to the complaint, the employee then \u201cimmediately unsubscribed\u201d from the Wolfpack group \u201cin fear that her association with Wolfpack would disadvantage Wolfpack employees or her.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">This year, Wolfpack found in a survey of staffers that \u201cmany female employees viewed Niantic as a sexist work culture that disadvantages female employees\u201d and a majority of respondents \u201cexpressed concerns about equal pay at Niantic,\u201d the complaint says. When those survey findings where shared with upper management, \u201cNiantic\u2019s Chief Marketing Officer, Mike Quigley, required Wolfpack to remove references to Boys Club and similar comments about sexism in the workplace from their presentation to Wolfpack members about the results of the survey.\u201d The group was also told that they could not survey staffers without approval from upper management.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">Niantic didn\u2019t immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component clear-both block md:float-left md:mr-30 md:w-[320px] lg:-ml-100\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--sidebar bg-gray-200 mb-20 w-full rounded-sm bg-[#F8F5FF] p-20 [&amp;&gt;*:last-child&gt;*:last-child]:mb-0\">\n<div class=\"[&amp;_p]:font-polysans [&amp;_p]:text-16 [&amp;_p]:font-light [&amp;_p]:leading-130\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">If you are a current or former Niantic employee, I\u2019m interested in hearing from you. Feel free to email me at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/7\/7\/23787809\/mailto:jay.peters@theverge.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>jay.peters@theverge.com<\/strong><\/a>. We can talk there or set up an encrypted conversation on Signal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">The lawsuit against Niantic is just the latest legal action toward a major gaming company based on allegations from female employees. The state of California sued Activision Blizzard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/7\/22\/22588215\/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-sexual-harassment-discrimination-pay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in 2021<\/a> alleging that it fostered a culture of \u201cconstant sexual harassment,\u201d while Riot Games announced that year that it would pay $100 million <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/12\/28\/22856743\/riot-games-settlement-gender-discrimination-lawsuit-dfeh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph mb-20 font-fkroman text-18 leading-160 -tracking-1 selection:bg-franklin-20 dark:text-white dark:selection:bg-blurple [&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin dark:[&amp;_a:hover]:shadow-highlight-blurple [&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&amp;_a]:shadow-underline-white\">As part of its recent layoffs, CEO John Hanke reiterated the company\u2019s focus on <em>Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sensortower.com\/blog\/pokemon-go-6-billion-revenue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its cash cow<\/a>. The company has struggled to find its next big hit, shutting down games based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/11\/2\/22759677\/harry-potter-wizards-unite-shutting-down-january-2022-niantic-ar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Harry Potter<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/9\/17\/22680166\/niantic-catan-world-explorers-shutdown-early-access\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Catan<\/em><\/a>, and, as of last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/6\/28\/23185384\/nba-all-world-ar-location-game-niantic-pokemon-go\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its NBA game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2023\/7\/7\/23787809\/niantic-lawsuit-systemic-sexual-bias-pay-disparity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Niantic employee filed a lawsuit against the AR gaming company on Friday, alleging that it devalued the work of female employees and women of color, denied equal pay to women employees and women of color. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, accuses Niantic of creating a \u201cboys club.\u201d The employee was laid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}